Pets, fun return to ‘new’ Petland

Monroeville pet store will celebrate grand reopening

(Monroeville, PA, February 16, 2011) – The community is being invited to Petland Monroeville at 10 a.m. Saturday, February 26th, to participate in a grand re-opening of the store. While Petland’s pets will be familiar, returning customers will notice some store changes when they walk through the door.

“Petland Monroeville is a place for people to come and add a new family member to their household,” said Kurt Karcher. “It’s also a place that employees love to come to each day. Those two things make this business venture most enjoyable for me.”

Kurt is excited about the opportunity to bring the community the highest quality in pets and supplies.

“The ability to work with animals will be a highlight of this new venture” he stated.

At their Petland store in Monroeville, Kurt says they are dedicated to fulfilling the Petland Mission.

“We will be matching the right pet with the right customer and meeting the needs of both,” said Kurt, explaining that part of the fun will be to work within the community to enhance the human-animal bond. “We know that pets make life better at all stages of people’s lives.”

Pets make life better

Studies of the human-animal bond, like those conducted by the Delta Society, www.deltasociety.org, show pet ownership increases social and verbal skills in children, reduces stress in adults and provides companionship for senior citizens while lowering blood pressure. The list of health benefits from pet ownership goes on and on.

"Pet lovers can come into our Petland store and touch, talk and play with the animals,” Tony said. “The socialization is beneficial for our guests and our pets, and, of course, our pet counselors look forward to showing all our guests just how fun and life-enriching pets can be."

Petland has it all

The Petland store in Rome carries a wide range of pets – adoptable mixed breeds and register-able puppies and kittens, fish, birds, reptiles and small animals. In addition to hundreds of finned, furry and feathered friends, the store also offers upwards of 6,000 pet supplies, all designed to enhance the health and comfort of each pet and to maximize the quality of the relationship between the pets and their owners.

Building community ties with people, pets

“We are dedicated to building community ties with residents of Rome who love pets as much as we do,” said Joyce. “Our community service programs at Petland aim to give back, in a number of ways, to our local community.”

A commitment to the human-animal bond has the staff at Petland in Rome beginning to develop community service programs conducted at Petland stores nationwide. Programs include:

Adopt-A-PetSM — Petland cares for and places homeless pets from local animal shelters and from families in the community, who may have accidental litters. During the last decade, Petland has placed more than 270,000 homeless puppies and kittens.

Commitment to Healthy Pets — The health and well being of its pets is the #1 priority at Petland. Petland puppies and kittens come from professional and hobby breeders who have years of experience in raising quality family pets. Petland puppies and kittens are checked by two and in many cases three veterinarians before being offered to customers. Petland puppies and kittens also come with extensive health warranties.

Pets for a LifetimeSM — With its complimentary Pets for a Lifetime program, Petland’s goal is to see that no Petland pets end up homeless or in animal shelters. Petland does this by microchipping most puppies and kittens for identification purposes and by using its many in-store resources to assist pet owners in finding new homes for Petland pets they can no longer accommodate. Petland also provides new puppy owners with “Resource Kits,” offering obedience-training lessons on DVD and free lifetime consultation with canine behavior specialists.

Pet Therapy — At Petland, we commonly take our pets to visit school children and nursing home residents as studies of the human-animal bond show that pets are good for people, enhancing verbal and social skills in children and providing companionship and lowering blood pressure in seniors.

Safari Stan’s Children’s CharitiesSM —Petland contributes to two children’s charities. Annually, Petland fulfills pet-related wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America and collects funds year-round for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Petland, Inc. is a franchise operation with more than 190 quality, full service, retail pet centers across the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Mexico, China and South Africa. Petland is ranked among Entrepreneur magazine’s “Franchise 500.” For more information on Petland, please visit the company's Web site at www.petland.com.